1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a tactile information transmission system for transmission of various information through tactile sensation of human fingers and a tactile information perception apparatus, and more particularly relates to a system for information transmission by means of perception of the motion of a part on which a human hand finger touches and a driving power generation apparatus suitably used for such system or apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
In many cases, the tactile sensation is the decisive sensation for recognizing or judging an object among perception information perceived by sense organs such as eyes, ears, nose, hands, and fingers. It is likely that a person understands and is convinced of the feeling such as surface smoothness and roughness or weight of an object by touching it with hands and fingers and makes various decisions after such perception.
On the other hand, the information of commodities or exhibitions, which cannot be obtained by touching with hands and fingers, displayed on a screen of a television set or a personal computer, or the information of commodities introduced on documents such as journals, pamphlets, or catalogues, cannot be perceived through atmosphere and perception though the object can be recognized in word or visually. A person fills the lack of information by estimation and stores the estimation in the brain and is convinced of it.
Therefore, the depth of understanding based on the visual single information is apt to be shallower than that based on the information with tactile sensation, as the result the erroneous judgment is caused due to the vague memory.
However, the development and spread of information communication apparatus have been addressed mainly on visual information so far such as Internet, and the information transmission based on visual sensation and auditory sensation, which has been popular so far, has made great progress. Therefore, after full development and spread of visual information transmission apparatuses, it is expected that the demand for tactile information transmission will grow.
As the information transmission tool based on the tactile sensation, Braille has been known for long years for use by visually handicapped persons. Semi-three dimensional resin documents made by press-molding originated from a mold as tools for transmission or recognition of diagrammatic configurational information such as maps have been known.
Furthermore, the transmission of such character information or configurational information by means of an electronic information apparatus has been tried, and some examples are disclosed in Japanese Published Unexamined Patent Application No. Sho 59-168483, Japanese Published Unexamined Patent Application No. Hei 2-5081, Japanese Published Unexamined Patent Application No. Hei 5-333765, Japanese Published Unexamined Utility Model Application No. Hei 5-96863, U.S. Pat. No. 5,625,576, etc.
Apparatuses disclosed in Japanese Published Unexamined Patent Application No. Sho 59-198483, Japanese Published Unexamined Patent Application No. Hei 2-5081, and Japanese Published Unexamined Patent Application No. Hei 5-333765 are the ones for displaying Braille, plural pins are activated and controlled so that some pins are projected and some pins are recessed to thereby generate the Braille cord.
The apparatus disclosed in Japanese Published Unexamined Utility Model Application No. Hei 5-96863 functions as a three-dimensional display, plural pins arranged in a matrix format are driven individually in the vertical direction by a driving source, and the position in the height direction is controlled. Therefore, characters or diagrams are displayed three-dimensionally by means of a set of plural pins.
The apparatus disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,625,576 has the structure for presenting tactile information to a fingertip, is provided with a robot manipulator having a link mechanism, and is provided with a fingerstall at the tip of the manipulator into which a finger is to be inserted. An operator inserts a finger into the fingerstall, and moves the finger with viewing a pointer that appears on a computer screen to thereby perceive the configuration and soft-hard feeling of an object on the screen.
On the other hand, an input apparatus by which a user can perceive an object by means of correlation between a displayed image and vibration that is perceived by a hand and fingers has been known (product of Sony Co., brand name is DUALSHOCK). The apparatus generates various sensation by selecting the vibration frequency and interval.
An apparatus that drives a mouse by providing the electromagnetic force from a mouse pad instead of a mouse for selecting an image by use of pointer displayed on a display (the technique name is FEELitMOUSE, product of Immersion Co.). The mass feeling of a displayed image at the portion where a pointer is overlapped with moving of a mouse, and vibration corresponding to the roughness of the imaginary object such as a button or window are transmitted to a user through tactile sensation. Though the detailed structure of this apparatus has not been disclosed, it is estimated that a dedicated mouse is placed on a dedicated mouse pad having a built-in processor for performing arithmetic operation corresponding to tactile sensation, and the mouse is moved by means of an electromagnetic mechanism.
Japanese Published Unexamined Patent Application No. Hei 7-191798 discloses an apparatus that feeds back tactile information to an input user by rotational control of a sphere provided in an input apparatus.
The apparatus gives tactile sensation as if a finger is sliding on an object of a certain configuration or as if a certain object is moving by a method in which a ball is in contact with fingers or a hand of a user and the ball is driven rotationally.
However, these conventional apparatus described hereinabove are disadvantageous as described hereunder.
The apparatus disclosed in Japanese Published Unexamined Patent Application No. Sho 59-198483, Japanese Published Unexamined Patent Application No. Hei 2-5081, and Japanese Published Unexamined Patent Application No. Hei 5-333465 must express the information in the form of Braille code information because the apparatus only has binary expression capability namely projected pins and recessed pins. Therefore all the information is transmitted through language, and configuration such as analogue contour lines or movement captured sensuously cannot be expressed.
The apparatus disclosed in Japanese Published Unexamined Patent Application No. Hei 5-96863 has the structure for controlling many pin positions and is capable of expressing three-dimensional configuration, but is not capable of dynamic expression because the apparatus is structured on the premise that the apparatus is used in static state.
Many pins are moved independently in the apparatus, and it is required to control pins individually, such a mechanism requires complex structure and complex control.
The apparatus disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,625,576 gives the touching force sensation information on one fingertip and is capable of giving sensation of configuration and hard/soft feeling. An operator moves his wrist or arm by himself and perceives a reaction force on the extension of the movement. In other words, the hand searches around the information in a virtual space, and the operator cannot acquire the information unless the operator moves actively.
The apparatus has the structure that converts the rotational motion of electromagnetic motors provided in many directions to obtain the driving force in the plural directions to the swing rotation of plural swing arms, and such structure requires a large volume for containing the driving mechanism for motion in plural directions. The distance from the motor, which is the driving source, to the arm tip where an operator perceives is too long in the structure and the force is transmitted by way of many connection members, as the result it is difficult to transmit weak vibration or slight displacement. Though the apparatus can express rough configurational contours or hard/soft feeling, it is difficult to perceive slight motion of frequency.
On the other hand, to provides the information that is perceivable through tactile sensation as described hereinabove, it is required to operate presenters based on the electronic information in many cases. A well-known driving source such as solenoid may be used as the driving source that drives a presenter, but to miniaturize the apparatus and to render the apparatus capable of providing the information freely and dynamically, the apparatus that is miniaturized and easily controllable is desirable. In the case of the conventional driving apparatus in which the presenters are operated in two direction as in the case of the present invention, driving apparatuses are provided in the two directions and the presenter is moved in a plane by means of motion of these apparatuses.
In the case of the apparatus that reproduces the tactile sensation by means of changing frequency and amplitude of vibration, the reproduction of slight tactile sensation is difficult because the vibration wave is non-directional simple vibration, and only the same stimulation as that perceivable by hand, arm, or whole body is obtained.
In the case of the apparatus that moves a mouse by means of electromagnetic force, though the apparatus is suitable to express the tactile sensation that is perceivable on the whole hand and whole palm, a palm cannot discriminate slight tactile sensation and it is required to move a mouse significantly to obtain only slight tactile sensation. The pointing device including the mouse is advantageous in that a pointer moves a long distance on a display correspondingly to a small motion of a mouse, the pointing device is an excellent device for efficient input work. However, in the case of the mouse used in the abovementioned system, it is required to move a whole mouse in order to provide the tactile sensation and the small input motion is sacrificed. It is required that a mouse is used on a dedicated mouse pad, and the limitation on the use is problematic.
Furthermore, in the case of the apparatus in which a sphere is rotated and tactile sensation is fed back to a user, the finger face portion that is being in contact with the sphere slides off during rotation of the sphere. As the result, the tactile sensation on which the roundish configurational sensation of the sphere is overlapped is transmitted to the user, and the reproducibility of tactile sensation becomes poor.
The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances and provides an information perception apparatus that is capable of providing sufficient tactile sensation to a user with a small-sized apparatus and, when the apparatus is used as a pointing device, that is capable of providing the additional tactile sensation information without loosing the advantage as the pointing device. Furthermore, the present invention provides an information transmission system that uses the device, a memory medium that stores a program for driving the device, and a driving force generation apparatus that is suitable for driving the abovementioned information perception apparatus.
The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances and provides an information perception apparatus including a perception unit on which a fingertip is to be placed supported movably in approximately parallel to the contact plane of the fingertip, a signal input unit that receives a motion signal including the information which indicates the displacement direction of the perception unit, and a driving unit that moves the perception unit corresponding to the motion signal supplied to the signal input unit.
In this information perception apparatus, because the perception unit on which a finger is placed is moved in the parallel direction to the contact surface of the finger based on the motion signal, the fingertip that is very sensitive to (tactile sensation is conducted to the perception unit and the contact force perception is given. Therefore, the high tactile sensitivity of the fingertip is utilized effectively, and strong contact sensation and force perception are given even though the motion of the perception unit is small.
At that time, because the fingertip is conducted by means of friction force between the fingertip and the perception unit, when the user does not want to perceive the tactile sensation, the user can be released from conduction easily, the user can discontinue the motion of the finger as desired, and the user is safe even when an erroneous motion is caused.
A position information input part that acquires a position information correspondingly to the operation of a user may be provided. In this case, this information perception apparatus is used as a pointing device that provides the position information to a unit to which the information perception apparatus is connected. As the system that enters the position information corresponding to the operation of a user, a known system used as pointing device such as a system that detects the relative movement magnitude by moving the pointing device as in the case of a mouse (ball+rotary encoder), a system in which the change with time of the contact position of a finger on a pad is detected to detect the motion direction and the change is correlated to the coordinate (detection of pressed position on a pressure sensor pad), or a system that calculates the position based on the inclination direction/inclination time of a stick (detection of bending direction of the stick by means of pressure sensor) may be used. The position information is not limited to the case in which the coordinate is indicated directly, but the information that provides the position information by processing the information may be used.
The connection may be wire connection or wireless connection, and the signal input unit or signal output unit is provided with an interface corresponding to the connection type. In the case where a built-in position input unit is provided as in the case of a note-type personal computer, an interface may be provided inside for connection.
In the case of input/output of information by way of the wire connection, an electric signal is transmitted through a conductive wire or an optical signal may be transmitted through an optical cable.
In the case of wireless connection, information transmission by means of electromagnetic wave or transmission by means of light, ultrasonic wave may be used.
The information perception apparatus may have the structure in which a displacement detection part that detects the displacement of the perception unit based on the operation of a user or displacement of the portion linked to the displacement of the perception unit is provided and the detection information detected by the displacement detection part is sent out by way of the signal output part, as the result the user can operate the perception unit to be displaced with the fingertip that is perceiving tactile sensation to transmit the detection information to the unit connected to the device.
By use of this apparatus, perception of the information through tactile sensation and output of the motion signal by means of operation of the fingertip are possible.
In detail, the perception unit is driven by a driving force to thereby detect the tactile information from the perception unit, and a user moves the fingertip to thereby move the perception unit, as the result the information, for example, the operation of the fingertip, is generated as a signal. In detail, it is possible that the control in which a restoring force proportional to the displacement is exerted, for example, when the perception unit is displaced forcedly by an external force, is applied. Furthermore in detail, a mouse having a click button on which the perception unit of the information perception apparatus is provided may be used. A scroll roller provided between buttons of a two-button mouse is used as the perception unit, and the roller is driven rotationally and a mechanism that is moved in the rotation axis direction based on the motion signal may be provided. By structuring the information perception apparatus as described hereinabove, a user can perceive the tactile information and respond immediately. Furthermore a user can set the displacement magnitude suitable for the user by comparing the detected displacement of the perception unit with the estimated movement magnitude of the perception unit, or can store the detected displacement of the perception unit as personal information and use it to specify the next user.
The perception unit may be structured so as to be displaced in the pressing down direction by a finger placed on the perception unit and in the shaking direction of a finger, as the result the finger of a user is conducted to press down and shake, these motions have a high degree of freedom. At that time, if the displacement is too large, the finger cannot follow the displacement of the perception unit, and the user cannot start the next operation quickly. The displacement is limited to 3 cm or smaller to thereby transmit the delicate tactile sensation consistently.
The perception unit may have the structure in which the driving unit is provided with a magnetic field generation part that generates magnetic flux in X-axis, Y-axis, and Z-axis directions orthogonal to each other, a first coil group including one or more coils disposed so that a part of winding crosses the magnetic flux generated by the magnetic field generation part in X-axis direction, and a second coil group including one or more coils disposed so that a part of winding crosses the magnetic flux generated by the magnetic filed generation part in Y-axis direction, wherein the driving current corresponding to the motion signal is supplied to the first coil group and the second coil group, and the perception unit is connected to the first coil group and the second coil group so as to displace based on the displacement of the first coil group and the second coil group caused by the supply of the driving current.
In the information perception apparatus described hereinabove, a driving force is exerted to the first coil group in Y-axis direction by supplying a current to the first coil group. On the other hand, a driving force is exerted to the second coil group in X-axis direction by supplying a current to the second coil group. Therefore, the first coil group and the second coil group are connected to the perception unit and the current is supplied to the first coil group and the second coil group controllably, and a driving force is thereby exerted to the perception unit in the arbitrary direction in an XY plane. The coil that is structured by winding wire flat in the XY plane to limit the size in Z-axis direction is used, and the coil is thereby driven stably. It is possible to overlap the first coil group and the second coil group one on the other to obtain a large driving force with a small sized structure.
It is desirable to use a magnet as a magnetic field generation part, but coils or coil groups other than the first and second coil groups may be used to generate a magnetic field.
At least any one of the first coil group and the second coil group may include two or more coils, the coil center of at least two coils among coils of the first coil group is disposed at different positions distant in X-axis direction, or the coil center of at least two coils among coils of the second coil group is disposed at different positions distant in Y-axis direction, and different currents are supplied to two or more coils included in the first coil group or the second coil group.
In this case, for example, different magnitude of current is supplied to two or more coils included in the first coil group, the driving force exerted to coils in Y-axis direction is thereby differentiated. The driving force in Y-axis direction may be reversed. Two or more coils to which the differentiated driving force is exerted are disposed at respective positions deviated from each other in X-axis direction to generate a torque and to provide a rotational driving force round Z-axis to the coil holder.
The current magnitude supplied to two or more coils included in the second coil group is controlled to differentiate the driving force in X-axis direction, and a torque is thereby generated similarly. In the case where both the first coil group and the second coil group include two or more coils, a rotational driving force may be generated in both coil groups.
A coil included in the first coil group and a coil included in the second coil group may disposed so as to cross the magnetic flux generated by a common magnetic field generation part.
In this case, because the magnetic flux crossing direction of the coil included in the first coil group and that of the coil included in the second coil group are different and orthogonal to each other, driving forces in X-axis direction and Y-axis direction are generated by means of only the common magnetic flux namely a magnetic flux in one direction. Accordingly, it is possible to structure a simple and small-sized apparatus and to obtain a large driving force.
The magnetic field generation part may include plural magnetic field generation members arranged in X-axis direction or Y-axis direction, which magnetic field generation members located adjacent to each other generate the magnetic flux in the opposite direction of Z-axis, and the coil is disposed so that portions facing each other with interposition of the winding center cross the flux in the opposite direction respectively.
In such a driving force generation apparatus, currents in the opposite directions are generated on the portions facing each other with interposition of the winding center of a coil, the direction of the magnetic flux that these portions cross is also opposite, as the result the driving force in the same direction is exerted to the facing portions of the coil. Therefore, one coil generates a large driving force, and a small-sized apparatus that is capable of generating a large driving force is obtained.
The information perception apparatus as described hereinabove that is used together with the information processing apparatus from which the motion signal is supplied by way of the signal input unit of the information perception apparatus is used as a tactile information transmission system.
In such an information transmission system, the motion signal is supplied from the information processing apparatus by way of the signal input unit of the information perception apparatus, and the driving force is exerted to displace the perception unit based on the signal and the information perception apparatus is operated. Thereby, the perception unit can perform various operations with linking to the information processing apparatus. A user who is placing a part of the body on the perception unit can perceive the motion of the perception unit, and can obtain various information by means of the motion pattern, timing, and displacement. The signal is transmitted between the signal input unit and the information processing apparatus through wire connection or wireless connection.
The perception unit may be provided with a contact detection sensor that detects a fingertip of a user when the fingertip is brought into contact on the perception unit and transmits a contact detection signal to the information processing apparatus.
This apparatus detects whether a part of a human body is in contact with the apparatus or not by means of the contact detection sensor, and follows the load change concomitant with contact/separation of a fingertip based on the contact detection signal generated from the contact detection sensor. In detail, when a part of a human body separates from the apparatus and the load is reduced steeply, it is possible to control the apparatus to reduce the driving force or stop the driving correspondingly to the load.
The information perception apparatus of the present invention is structured so that a position information input part is provided, input position information is supplied to the information processing apparatus, and a motion signal corresponding to the position information is sent out from the information processing apparatus to the information perception apparatus.
By using the motion signal corresponding to the position information supplied from the position information input part as described hereinabove, the virtual space that is set based on the information stored in the information processing apparatus is correlated to the tactile sensation. Therefore, a user can perceive the structure of the virtual space through tactile sensation. At that time, in the case where the information transmission system includes a display apparatus, the visual information displayed on the display apparatus is acquired, and simultaneously the tactile information is obtained from the information perception apparatus. Therefore, it is possible that a user recognizes and understands an object through the visual information and also through the tactile information, and the user can acquire the information that is different from the information acquired only through any one of visual sensation and tactile sensation. In the case where a display apparatus is not used, it is possible that the user recognizes a virtual space through tactile sensation, and the tactile information equivalent to the visual information is presented to a fingertip. It is possible that a visually disable person who can recognize the character only by means of Braille conventionally can recognize the ordinary word and characters by means of continuous operation. Furthermore it is possible that a user performs operation while the user is obtaining the tactile information in the status where it is difficult for the user to perform predetermined operation on the information process apparatus while the user is seeing the visual information.
In the case of the information perception apparatus having a display apparatus, the function to display a pointer in a screen displayed on the display apparatus is provided, the perception unit is driven based on the motion signal corresponding to the position of the pointer in the image.
In the tactile information transmission system as described hereinabove, the tactile sensation corresponding to the position of the pointer in the image displayed on the image display apparatus can be acquired from the perception unit. It is possible to acquire the tactile sensation corresponding to the position of the pointer when the pointer is moved in the image, and it is possible to recognize based on the displayed image and plural tactic sensations.
In the case of the information transmission system, a user moves the pointer in the image while the user is acquiring the tactile information by mean of the information perception apparatus, and perceives the tactile sensation corresponding to the position of the pointer. Therefore, it is possible to obtain from the perception unit of the information perception apparatus the tactile sensation corresponding to the configuration that is changing continuously on the image displayed on the display apparatus.
Furthermore, in the case of the information transmission system as described hereinabove, it is possible that the information perception apparatus is operated based on the information transmitted from a remote place through the network and the tactile information can be transmitted between users who are located far distant from each other.
The information transmission may be real time, or otherwise the information is stored temporarily and then the tactile information may be perceived later. The information transmitted through the network may be only the motion signal of the tactile sensation, or otherwise only the display information is transmitted and the motion signal is correlated to the obtained display image on the information processing apparatus side that has received the display information.
In the information transmission system as described hereinabove, the motion signal for driving the information perception apparatus arbitrarily controls the motion of the perception unit such as stop, movement magnitude, moving speed, and acceleration, and changes these magnitudes over time. For example, the motion signal includes the space coordinate data that indicates the position or area where the perception unit is moved, includes the function having the coordinate as the parameter, or includes the time data that determines the speed or acceleration of the motion. The perception unit is driven based on such motion signal, as the result the predetermined motion is transmitted from the perception unit to a finger and a user can perceive the information based on the motion of the finger while the user is placing the finger on the perception unit.
When the pointer is very near going out from the range of the presentation position or presentation area of the tactile force sensation in the virtual space that is set to the information processing apparatus, the perception unit may be moved so as to give the sensation that the perception unit is coming close to the boundary of the presentation position or presentation area. Thereby, a user can recognize whether the finger of the user is located in the area where the information is presented without viewing the screen, and it is possible that the user recognizes the information without protrusion of the pointer from the predetermined information presentation area. The recognition part without using the visual sensation is effective as the information acquisition method in the working circumstances, in which a worker cannot look away from the target, such as speech to audiences or on camera, machine work, and video camera working while viewing through a finder.
The perception unit may be moved when a pointer overlaps on the place where the text information or the image information such as a diagram or photograph displayed on a display is linked to the tactile information, or otherwise the perception unit may be displaced depending on the distance between the pointer and the linked portion. Thereby, it is possible that a user can detect the important point in a document, or the text or diagram area that link to other text information and image information such as Hyper Text in the Internet homepage by means of the tactile stimulation when the cursor overlaps on these areas.
The displacement magnitude, speed, or acceleration of the perception unit are visualized and are displayed on a display apparatus to obtain the tactile stimulation corresponding to the position of the pointer in the image displayed on the display unit, and the visual information corresponding to the tactile stimulation is obtained from the image. By perceiving the visual information and tactile sensation simultaneously as described hereinabove, it is possible to recognize these sensations with close correlation. By displaying the output status of the tactile sensation visually, it is possible to recognize the relation between the pointer and the object, namely the pseudo contact between the set objects in the virtual space and the finger.